The Promise
by Jessie611
Summary: JC angst and fluff. Jack went away but Chloe waited for him, despite everyone trying to convince her he was dead. One shot.


Chloe stared at the message that had flashed up on her screen only moments before.

"Midnight, where the moon catches the water, tell no-one."

Her heart had leapt into her chest when she first saw it, a message that held so much but that was three years late. She swatted at the tears that were falling onto her cheeks.

She knew she should tell someone. What if it was a trap? A way of someone getting her to work for them? It wouldn't be the first time. But how would they know about the moon on the water? That was their secret place, where they used to go to get away from all the chaos.

Chloe quickly deleted the message, not wanting there to be any trace of it. She felt hope flare in her chest; hope not just that she would see him, but that they could finally be together. They all thought he was dead but Chloe thought him invincible, she often berated herself for her faith that he would always make it. She knew deep down that he was as human as the rest of them and that he made mistakes but if she allowed herself to think he might be dead it would break her heart. And Chloe O'Brian wasn't the type of woman who would recover from a broken heart, not when the heart in question belonged to Jack Bauer.

She got up from her station and walked up the stairs to Bill Buchanan's office. She'd been working late trying to reroute CTU satellites across the city, she was more than eighty percent finished and she knew the others would cope with the other twenty. She knocked at the door and entered as Bill gestured for her to do so. She waited quietly while he finished up his phone call. She scowled as she saw the concern in his expression when he looked at her. She really must learn to hide her feelings better.

"What's wrong?" he asked when he hung up the phone.

"Nothing" she said quickly, "um, well . . . I've just got a headache. I was wondering if I could go home".

She looked at the clock on the wall and saw she only had a couple of hours before she had to be at the meeting point.

"Don't lie to me Chloe".

Her head shot up at his words, the surprise in her expression obvious. Dammit! Why was it he could read her so well? She felt fresh tears sting her eyes and Bill moved towards her slowly.

"Hey" he said softly, "Talk to me Chloe."

"I can't" she said quietly, "I just . . . I don't know what it is. I just feel . . . ."

"Shh" he said, pulling her into his arms, "its okay Chloe, I know it's still really difficult for you."

Chloe allowed herself a moment to lean against him. Bill and Karen had been there for her in ways she couldn't even begin to describe; through the months of loneliness when Jack first went undercover, through the hope of his return when everyone else doubted it, through her insistence that he was alive when everyone thought him dead and eventually through the pain of resignation that he may never return.

"I just wish I knew what happened to him" she said slowly.

"I know Chloe, I know" Bill said, his lips brushing against her brow before moving back from her. "Listen, why don't you come stay with Karen and me tonight?"

"Thanks Bill, by I'd just rather be alone. I'll be fine by morning, I promise."

"You don't have to be Chloe" Bill said with a sigh.

"I don't have to be what?" she asked as she reached the door, turning back to him with a frown.

"You don't have to be fine. Just talk to us, okay?"

"Thanks Bill. I will, just . . . not tonight."

He nodded and smiled softly at her. "Alright, see you tomorrow."

"Sure" she said, not for one minute believing that she would. Whichever way the meeting went, whether it was Jack or some hostile, she really didn't believe she would return to CTU in the morning.

00000

She parked the car on the beach, thinking that if it was close and the meeting wasn't what it appeared to be she may have a chance to get away. She didn't really believe that but Jack had taught her to take precautions whenever a threat was unknown.

She moved to the spot by the abandoned beach hut and sat down on the wooden steps. She looked out onto the ocean and remembered the last time they'd sat there together.

00000

"_I'm sorry Chloe, but I have to do this"._

"_I know" she nodded._

_Tears were falling softly from her eyes, she didn't think she could bear it. She felt like she was losing him._

_Him pulled her against him, "I'm sorry baby" he said gently._

"_I just . . . I just love you, you know?"_

"_I know Chloe" he said, his voice breaking with emotion, "and I love you."_

_He kissed her then, his lips capturing hers in a passionate embrace that was over all too soon._

_As he pulled back he tangled his fingers in her hair, holding her gaze. _

"_I know its hard baby, but if I succeed then it will change the face of terrorism forever. We will finally be free of all of it. It may take months or even longer but there is no-one else who knows this group like I do. There is no-one else who can do this."_

"_I know Jack" she said, burying her face in his shoulder, kissing the skin of his neck as her tears fell onto him. "You have to do this, you were meant to do this." She pulled back from him and looked him in the eye._

"_I'll wait for you" she said, "I promise"._

_He smiled sadly at her, "I know you will Chloe, you always have done. That's why I'm doing this; I don't want you to have to wait for me any more. I want this to be over and the only way that's going to happen is if I go on this mission. If I don't then I'll be forever getting called back in, it will never be over."_

_She returned his smile, her heart almost bursting with love for him. She couldn't ask him not to do it, even though if she did she knew he would do what she asked. But this was what she loved about him; his honour, his code. He was the most unselfish man she knew and with that she had to make sacrifices herself, even if that meant she was sacrificing her life with him. _

"_I love you" she said, her mouth against his._

_He groaned in response, his knowledge that she was the one woman who never asked anything of him, who always gave to him and never took driving his mouth against hers in a desperate attempt to keep her with him. He so wanted to give something back to her, something with meaning that would keep them together no matter what. _

_They made love there in the sand, the sounds of the waves breaking over the beach all that could be heard alongside their moans of pleasure. _

"_I'll be back" he promised as he walked away from her._

00000

Chloe felt an ache throughout her body at the memory of their last time together. Thinking about him filled her with desire, a desire that could never be fulfilled by any other.

"I'll be back"

His words went over and over in her head, his promise to her holding her to him even now.

She looked at her watch and saw it was five minutes past midnight. She looked around her but he was nowhere in sight. She felt her anxiety increase as she stood and walked towards the water's edge. Silence surrounded her, the only sound being the blood rushing through her ears and the gentle rise and fall of her own breathing.

The moon's reflection cast a shadowy light across the water, silver shards of light and dark throwing the beach into an ethereal illusion that matched her mood.

She turned suddenly at the sharp sound that came from the beach hut, just as she looked out into the distance a cloud passed over head, plunging the moon into hiding and the beach into a blackness that did not allow her vision to adjust.

She caught a glimpse of movement and briefly closed her eyes in silent prayer. As she opened them the moon came back, switching on a light that threatened to almost blind her in its perfection. For standing before her just a few feet away was the man she loved; her husband of just three years and three days.

She couldn't help the smile that came to her face or the laugh that passed her lips. Her fear was replaced by joy as her heart hammered inside her chest. He returned her smile and took a step closer to her. But Chloe couldn't wait; her waiting for him was over.

Instead she ran and in a few easy strides she slammed into him, his arms encircling her waist and lifting her. She rained kisses across his face, stopping only when his lips found hers, his grip in her hair and her hands on his shoulders the only things holding her to him.

They sank slowly into the sand, her on top of him, her fingers trailing lightly across his face while her lips continued to fuse with his. With a dip of his head he deepened the kiss, his tongue finding hers as his hands moved to her hips, pulling her hard against him.

When they finally broke apart to catch their breath she tried to speak, but she needed to fill her lungs with air. Eventually her words reached his ears.

"Oh god, I missed you" she said urgently, "I really, really missed you."

He turned suddenly, flipping her over onto her back so he was leaning over her, surrounding her. His lips rested against hers and he was caught in a choice of kissing her or telling her so much that there weren't enough words in him to achieve.

"I need you" was all he managed on a groan of desperation.

And for Chloe O'Brian Bauer that was all she needed to hear.


End file.
